Fonterra Darnum celebrates its 20th birthday!

This week marks twenty years since Fonterra’s Darnum plant first fired up its milk dryers for production.

To celebrate the Darnum team took some time out on Wednesday to recognise the milestone, sharing lunch and birthday cake, and swapping stories about Darnum’s first two decades of operation.

The Darnum plant was built as a greenfields site by Bonlac Foods, with production starting in July 1997, before Fonterra acquired the site in 2006. The plant produces nutritional powders for the domestic and global markets.

Site Manager Andrew Nooy says that the Darnum site plays a central role in Fonterra’s strategy to establish Australia as its global ingredients hub for cheese, whey and nutritionals, complementing the domestic foodservice and consumer businesses.

“The Darnum plant is a leading nutritionals plant in Fonterra’s global network, and it has always been at the forefront of Australian dairy innovation, and renowned for its exceptional quality and safety standards,” said Andrew.

“Darnum plays a significant role in helping Fonterra capture growing demand for nutritionals throughout Asia. This is shown through the partnerships we’ve been able to build with our nutritional customers and through our joint venture with leading Chinese infant food manufacturer Beingmate.”

Powder Process Manager Richard Willis has worked at the site since it began production in July 1997, and says that what really makes Darnum such a special place to work is the team.

“There are a number of us who have been here since day one, and it really does feel like family,” said Richard.

“We take pride in what we do, and work together as a team to maintain our reputation for high quality product.

“We’re really proud every time we see another bag of nutritional powder roll off the line, headed to markets across Asia and the world.”